Let me start this Moussaka Wine Pairing Guide with a confession. I love moussaka but have only made it a handful of times UNTIL I finally caved in and bought instant bechamel. Please, no one tell my yiayia I no longer make it from scratch. But honestly, it’s a game changer. The bechamel is ready in literally 1 minute. So since this discovery, I’ve made moussaka 3 times this month…and pastitsio twice. I might have a problem. What is Moussaka? Moussaka is a traditional Greek dish with 4 layers (bottom to top): potatoes, eggplant, ground beef or lamb, and bechamel. It’s a bit of a pain in the but ..read more

Believe it or not, one of the question I get more often than not is simply, What does Cabernet Sauvignon taste like? Now the question is sometimes meant to imply, like, what is it that I’m tasting here when drinking Cabernet Sauvignon and other times it’s meant to mean, what is so special about Cabernet Sauvignon that everyone is drinking it. Cabernet Sauvignon is, after all, the most popular grape variety in the world with nearly 1 million acres planted. Before we dive into the characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon, we need to first understand wine descriptors in general. When we say Caberne ..read more

This post is a back to basics, wine 101 post about the most popular red wine grapes everyone who is starting to learn about wine should get familiar with. If you have any questions about any of the red wine grapes I’ve listed, or need clarification, reach out to me! Or ask it in the Unraveling Wine Facebook Group. One of the things sommeliers and wine writers are guilty of is forgetting what it was like to not know so much about wine. We throw out words, phrases, wine regions, and winemakers’ names as if everyone in the world knows what we’re talking about. It quickly becomes intimidating to t ..read more

Wine descriptions can range from helpful to absurd. Most of the time, half the words that are used on a label or a wine list, are purely for marketing purposes. If you can identify the 5 main wine characteristics of a wine, then you’ll be in a better position to describe the wine, and figure out what you like and dislike about each grape variety. Now, I go into full details of all the wine characteristics and have a step by step process for wine tasting in my Online Wine Tasting Course, but sometimes it’s helpful to see it written first. Then I do suggest enrolling and seeing wine tasting in a ..read more

We’ve all heard wine people describe wines saying, “Oh this is light-bodied,” or “This wine is heavy,” but what does it all mean. What they are describing is wine body. Unfortunately, most experts chock it up to the alcohol content in the wine and leave it at that. Well, that’ll leave you scratching your head if you’re got a 14% ABV wine that feels medium-bodied at best. Well that’s because they are leaving out 5 other contributing factors that give wine its body. What is Wine Body? If you’re new around here, you may not know that I own and operate a wine tour company in Chania, Crete. On our ..read more

With the holidays around the corner, I’m starting a new tradition of serving fondue/raclette for Christmas Eve. So to make the most of it, I’ve been testing the best wines with fondue and raclette ahead of time. It’s a huge sacrifice to have to research which wines I like most with the gooey yummy melted cheese, but that’s about the only type of sacrifice I’m willing to make these days. I’ve only recently come to enjoy fondue and raclette. Am I a little late to the party? Yes. Will I make up for lost time? Also, yes. You’d think dipping bread and potatoes into cheese would be something I would ..read more

With the holidays around the corner, I’m starting a new tradition of serving fondue/raclette for Christmas Eve. So to make the most of it, I’ve been testing the best wines for fondue and raclette ahead of time. It’s a huge sacrifice to have to research which wines I like most with the gooey yummy melted cheese, but that’s about the only type of sacrifice I’m willing to make these days. I’ve only recently come to enjoy fondue and raclette. Am I a little late to the party? Yes. Will I make up for lost time? Also, yes. You’d think dipping bread and potatoes into cheese would be something I would ..read more

What Wine Goes with Shrimp? Of course, the minute I sat down to write this Shrimp Wine Pairing guide, I immediately thought about the scene in the movie Forrest Gump. And the truth is, there is so many ways to prepare shrimp, I felt I needed to pick a wine to pair with each of them. Shrimp makes it way into many international cuisines so there’s lot of different flavors to consider when finding the perfect wine with shrimp. Let’s start tackling them one by one. “Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s uh, sh ..read more

I recently published a Chardonnay Food Pairing guide and yet all the comments and messages have been inquiring about Chardonnay Cheese Pairing specifically. Now, I am not one to disappoint my fans (all 3 of you!) so without further ado, here is a quick and easy guide to pairing Chardonnay and Cheese for your next charcuterie board or late night snack. What Cheese Goes with Chardonnay? Chardonnay is the most popular white wine in the world. Cheese is pretty amazing itself. Together, Chardonnay and Cheese can be very harmonious….if you pick the right Chardonnay, that is. Now, Chardonnay can neve ..read more

Veal Wine Pairing Veal wine pairing can be a little confusing because, is veal red meat or white meat? I mean, veal is from a cow which is obviously red meat but gastronomically speaking it’s classified as white meat. Weird, right? So our usually tendency to pair red wine with red meat and white wine with white meat goes completely out the window. As I’ve talked about ad nauseam, it’s all about the preparation. The sauce, the cooking method, and the weight (heavy dish vs light dish) will always be a better indicator of what wines are the best match with veal. I’ve included 7 of the most popula ..read more